LSU is hiring Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame, a stunning move by one of the most accomplished coaches in college football jumping from the sport’s most storied program to a Southeastern Conference powerhouse.
A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Monday night that Kelly was leaving Notre Dame for LSU. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither school was prepared to make an official announcement. Yahoo! Sports first reported the move.
The 60-year Kelly became the winningest coach in Notre Dame history earlier this season, surpassing Knute Rockne. In 12 seasons with the Fighting Irish, Kelly is 113-40, including the current run of five straight double-digit victory seasons.
Notre Dame just completed an 11-1 season on Saturday and still is in contention to reach the College Football Playoff for the third time in the last four years.
LSU’s coaching search started in October, when it reached an agreement to part ways with Coach Ed Orgeron at the end of the season. The change came less than two years after Coach O led the Tigers to a national championship.
The Tigers finished a 6-6 season on Saturday, upsetting Texas A&M at home in Orgeron’s last game.
Kelly is agreeing to take over the Tigers just a few weeks after he had publicly dismissed the idea of moving on when asked about possibly being a candidate at USC.
“No. I mean, look, I think Mike Tomlin had the best line, right?” Kelly told reporters, referring to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ coach. “Unless that fairy godmother comes by with that $250 million check, my wife would want to take a look at it first. I’d have to run it by her.”
WASHINGTON: Washington is in talks with Fresno State’s Kalen DeBoer to be its next head coach, two people familiar with the discussions between the Bulldogs’ coach and the Pac-12 school told AP.
DeBoer has spent two season at Fresno State, going 12-6.
GEORGIA TECH: Running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who finished third in the nation in all-purpose yards, announced plans to enter the transfer portal.
SYRACUSE: Coach Dino Babers will return for the 2022 season, his seventh, Syracuse Athletic Director John Wildhack said.
The announcement came a day after Babers fired three assistants, including offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert after just two seasons.
Syracuse finished 5-7 overall and 2-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the fifth losing season in six years under Babers but an improvement over the 10-loss team of 2020. The Orange lost their final three games this season to finish one victory shy of bowl eligibility.
OKLAHOMA: Quarterback Spencer Rattler, a preseason All-American who lost the starting job early in the season, announced on social media that he will enter the transfer portal.
The decision came a day after Coach Lincoln Riley’s decision to leave for Southern California.
SMU: SMU hired Rhett Lashlee as its new head coach, bringing back its former offensive coordinator to replace Sonny Dykes.
Lashlee had been Miami’s offensive coordinator for two seasons after serving as OC for the Mustangs during Dykes’ first two seasons in 2018 and 2019.
Dykes spent the past four seasons at SMU and will be introduced as TCU’s new coach Tuesday, though there have been no formal announcements of him as Gary Pattersons’ replacement from either school.
TEMPLE: Temple fired Coach Rod Carey after three seasons with the school, ending a tenure that started with a bowl game and finished with a combined two conference wins in the last two seasons.
The Owls completed a 3-9 season on Saturday with their seventh straight lopsided loss, falling to Navy 38-14.
DELAWARE: Delaware fired Coach Danny Rocco after the Blue Hens went 5-6 this season.
Rocco went 31-23 in five seasons at Delaware and reached the FCS semifinals when the tournament was played this past April and May – but that success was sandwiched between losing records in 2019 and this season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
UCONN: UConn sophomore guard Paige Bueckers is the first college athlete to represent Gatorade, announcing Monday a multiyear name, image and likeness (NIL) deal.
Terms of the deal with PepsiCo Inc. were not released.
“I know this is just the beginning of our partnership and can’t wait to get to work with Gatorade to drive impact in the community and on the women’s game,” Bueckers said in a statement,
It is the second NIL deal announced for Bueckers, who also has a partnership with sneaker marketplace StockX.
Bueckers is a former Gatorade high school player of the year.
Last year’s national player of the year, Bueckers is averaging 20.5 points, 6.5 assists and five rebounds a game for No. 2 UConn (3-1).
AP POLL: Maryland dropped six spots to No. 8 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll after losing two games in a week that saw eight of the top 10 teams change places behind unanimous No. 1 South Carolina.
UConn reclaimed No. 2 spot – up one spot and shared with N.C. State – after the Terrapins were blown out by the Wolfpack and new No. 4 Stanford, which climbed three spots. The Terrapins were short-handed with only seven available players due to injuries and illness.
The Gamecocks grabbed all 30 first-place votes from a national media panel for the second consecutive week after holiday tournaments that saw many of the top teams play each other.
Baylor was No. 5 while Indiana fell two places to sixth after losing to the Cardinal.
(1) SOUTH CAROLINA 79, NORTH CAROLINA A&T 42: Aliyah Boston scored a career-high 29 points on 13-of-13 shooting and powered host South Carolina over North Carolina A&T (0-6).
The Gamecocks improved to 8-0 for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. And, they did it through their 6-foot-5 All-American junior, who had 18 of South Carolina’s 27 straight points over a 10-minute stretch of the second and third quarters to put away the winless Aggies.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
AP POLL: Duke jumped to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll after its win against Gonzaga, adding to a record haul of top rankings for Hall of Fame Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The Blue Devils earned 51 of 61 first-place votes in the new poll, climbing from fifth last week following a win that knocked the Bulldogs from the top spot. This marks the 127th week at No. 1 for Krzyzewski, who is set to retire after this season.
The Blue Devils are No. 1 for the first time since spending two weeks there in November 2019.
Purdue earned nine first-place votes and moved up a spot to No. 2, while the Zags fell to third.
Reigning national champion Baylor rose two spots to No. 4 after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament while UCLA fell three spots to No. 5 after a 20-point loss to Gonzaga last week.
Villanova, Texas, Kansas, Kentucky and Arkansas rounded out the top 10 in a reshuffled poll that saw no team hold its spot from the previous week and three new teams join the list.
(9) KENTUCKY 85, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 57: Oscar Tshiebwe had 20 points and 16 rebounds, TyTy Washington Jr. added 15 points and host Kentucky (6-1) quickly overwhelmed Central Michigan (1-5).
The Wildcats shot 60% in the first half before cooling off to finish 43% overall while dominating the rebuilding Chippewas in most phases. They led 25-5 within seven minutes and maintained at least a 25-point cushion for much of the contest.
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